Marketing is essential to every business. It’s how you get your name out there, find potential customers and showcase who you are. However beneficial, marketing has gotten a bad rap for being costly.
Today, we’re here to show you that while there are some marketing costs you just can’t get around paying, there are a plethora of free resources on the web that will help you establish your brand and engage your potential customers. Here’s our top 10 free marketing resources for small businesses.
Canva
Whether you’re curating photos for your Instagram, editing an image for email or are designing printed promo materials, you need an easy to use graphic design software.
Enter: Canva.
Canva is the perfect tool for the everyday graphic designer. Its drag-and-drop style platform makes creating beautiful graphics a breeze.
Survey Monkey
How do you know what your customers want? One of the easiest ways to find out, is to directly ask them with Survey Monkey. Create polls, questionnaires and surveys that will help you optimize content, adjust your offerings and make you your customers feel heard.
Mailchimp
Now that you’ve tuned in, it’s time to engage customers outside your store. Mailchimp allows you to create and send email templates. You can use this platform send out monthly newsletters and store promotions.
The tool is free to use if you have less than 2,000 subscribers on your lists, and they have more robust plans if you need it.
Kopywriting Kourse Subject Line Generator
When you need a subject line to draw customers in, use this tool to help you think outside the box. Even if the generator doesn’t give you the perfect subject line, it may help you spark some ideas and get the creativity flowing!
Google Alerts
Want to know what your competitor is up to? Set a Google Alert. What about the promos your favorite company is running? Google Alert. How about updates from your favorite food blogger? Set a Google Alert.
In the digital age, the amount of available information can be overwhelming. Google Alerts are daily, or weekly, notifications about the subjects you care about. You can set them up in your Google Account.
Grammarly
It always helps to have a second set of eyes reading over your work. Whether there’s typos or misused words, we often don’t realize our grammar mistakes until it’s too late. Grammarly is a browser plug in that helps you identify mistakes and better phrasing. You can use the tool to check emails, blog posts and other longform content.
Google Analytics
If you have a website, you need Google Analytics. This free tool will allow you to track your website’s traffic, see where users engage with your site and explore terms that they’re using to find you. Based on this information, you can optimize your site’s content and pages so they’re even more relevant.
Google My Business
The most common plan you’ll see Google My Business listings is on Google Maps and on the righthand side of the Search Engine Results Page. This page allows you to post and update your hours, share relevant store information and help those searching in the area to find you.
Social Media
Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok – while, it seems like there are millions of platforms to choose from, you only need to be on platform(s) that allow you to reach your audience.
If you’re unsure where to begin, start by browsing through of few of these sites and checking out our post, Digital Marketing for Today’s Brick and Mortar Retailers.
Hootsuite
When you identify the platform, or platforms, you want to be on, you’ll need a way to manage your posts. Hootsuite allows you to create and schedule all your social posts at once, saving you time and confusion.
Use this list of top 10 free marketing resources to help you round out your current marketing efforts. If you’re stuck inside like us, there’s no better time to learn a new platform or tool. Many of these tools also offer paid upgrade options that you can take advantage of as your business grows.
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